Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1887-02-24
SOUTHERN FARMING.
Improvement in Agriculture NeedfuI to
Material Progress of the south.


of the ''new era" which has begun.
No doubt most extraordinary change
has ''come over the spirit of the dream
in the Southern States during a few
years past and its results are now be-
coming plainly apparent. The mate
rial natural wealth of the country is
being developed in a surprising man.
ner, and capital is being invested in all
sorts of industrial enterprises to very
large extent. All this is exceedingly
encouragingly, but it is true at the
same time that agriculture lags behind
other industries, and is not advancing
as it should and might do. A great
many farmers from the North and
West have moved to the South and
have introduced their methods, which
are new to the newer locality, but the
old farmers ''to the manner born" do
not take up with new ideas very rap
| idly; and the reign of the old fields, the
harmless homestead, the washed and
| quilted landscape, the waste of land,
the oYerpowering weeds, and the COM
FORTRESS dwellings still continues. Ag-
riculture never yet led the van in any
course of improvement. 1t waits to be
lifted up, taken by the hand as it were,
by other and more enterprising indus
tries and led in the way it should 60
And Southern agriculture is precisely
in this position now. Farmers who
| are buying corn for bread and are SELL
ing off the young stock in January
because they have not feed enough to
winter them, and who shiver through
unusual cold weather because it is too
cold to go out to cut wood for the fire,
say: 1--WE want railroads; we want
capital, iron furnaces, factories and all
that to set us on our feet and make
good times.' A farmer who is buy
ing Western pork at fifteen cents
pound readily agreed that he could
have raised his own pork from his own
corn had he grown three or four acres
more, and would have had money in
his pocket and corn and pork to sell to
help provide freight for railroad in
stead OF paying the road for bringing
in pork for him, and thus sending out
what little money he could raise to buy
1T with, and so keeping the country
poor. This instance is a typical one
The Southern farmers are poor because
theydo not grow enough to eat and be-
cause their crops are SO small that they
do nOS make fifty cents a day fog their
labor How can these things be changedP
1t is the old story of Jupiter and the
WAGNER stuck in the 1Eire over ssr;gin
''Put your shoulder to the wheel; the
gods help those who hep themselves
There - no other man N the country
who can better help himself than the
Southern farmer; with "a rich SOIL.
genial climatic, a market aEaround Linn,
and population feeding End clotlan@
themselves from outside Ct their own
asrritory, tile Southern farmer occupies
the most enEiable position Of all faEn-
eSa
Why, then, does Southern agricultuxe
lasguish, and why are Southern farm
erspoor anal oNerburdened with dehte'
Simply because of their poo rculture Of
farms; their adherence to few crors;:
the absence Of feeding crops and cattle
to consume Them and their custom Of
buying fertilizers TO make Isp for tFss
lackof manuDs:. Simply because their
incoAe is less than their outga 1t is al
of NRi: Micawber's aase Ons.I
hundred dollzrss. income an0I $10I ez-I
penses- misery; $1oO income and S9osl
expenses happiness and com i6rt.
The escape from this disagreeabIe-I
is very easy if the farmerssI
will only put theirwaste, orn,-washed,
but not impoverished old fs}ds intosI
cloyerand grass If the lands, are poor
ND oil bS.t Oh
UNDER. otherwise the hay may be GUS
and fed hs cows or cattle or sheep, anfu
the manure puaen the land and ploweelil
in with the sod as a preparation for
the common and Indispensable cot
ton crop. which may in this man
ner be- increased five or ten fold
The same preparation VILE easily
raise the, yield Of corn in the faHporablne
climate to fifty bushels instead of five.
and thus enable the farmer to produce
all his meat and have some 10. sell to
the so4ong-wisiled-for but now appau-
ent mechanic and artisan, who is, deveI-
oping the vast wealth of the. forests
and mines, The same result will hap
pen with the wheat crop, no longer
scratched in among the corIlstalks by
the ineffective bull tongue, but soSvn IN
good season upon well ploweG and ma
nured soil and smiling at harvest time
with heavy nOdding ears yielding thirty
bushels TO the acre. All this; is, as GER
tain as that night follows day and that
the morning sun reddens the eastern
sky and chases away the darkness of
the night. The laws of nature are in
violable and certain. Effects follow
causes in Southern fields as well as on
Northern farms, and good culture, ro-
tation of crops, liberal manuring, feed
ing cattle and industry lead to wealth